on hiatus

i've been m.i.a. for a bit, but i am back, at least i hope so. i will spare you the whiny excuses about not having enough time and being overwhelmed, this is what i signed up for. i think i would be more concerned if i was not stressed out, i would be pissed actually that i was spending so much money and feeling like i wasn't getting anything out of this experience.

so, i am trying to set a schedule and stick with it. this will be the a practical skill that i can use in multiple areas of my life. i know some bad ass people who manage to do so much work and still find a healthy balance with family, and their physical and mental health (at least it looks that way from an outsider's perspective). so, what will i do differently? i am creating a schedule and i am going to try my hardest to stick to it. i have a loose schedule now, but I typically find distractions and excuses to do other things as a way to avoid getting work done. and at this point in the semester i cannot continue to veer too far off course. it just ends up being worse in the end. i have work that needs to get done and it can go one of two ways, i either pace myself and get stuff done in a productive and timely manner, or i can procrastinate and stress myself out and be anxious and uncomfortable and crabby and self-conscious. i like the sound of the first option, but like anything, its work. and its easier said than done, but i am going to try.

Catalyst March 2011 Issue

I really like Catalyst Chicago, its a great resource and has tons of articles and information mostly about Chicago but in general urban education.

This month's issue is about teacher education and preparation programs and includes a few stories about students from Illinois State University working in Little Village and Auburn Gresham communities. I had the opportunity to work with a few of the student teachers featured in this issue and there are quite a bit of thought provoking comments and structures that might be worth looking into.

You can access all of the information for free and download a pdf file of this month's issue, just follow the link bellow.

March 2011: Teacher Preparation

article for discussion in class on March 8

What's Right With This Picture? Chicago's YOUmedia reinvents the public library by Karen Springen

CReATE: Chicago School Reform Forum

Our class attended the Chicago School Reform: Myths, Realities and New Visions Forum last night at UIC. I'm glad we had the opportunity to go, especially because lately I don't make it out to this kind of event on my own, just because I've been so all consumed by school.

Anyway, the Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education (CReATE), a group of bad ass researchers, educators, and just flat out amazing people, put together a document that highlights myths, realities and their vision for what public education should look like.

I guess what stood out for me most were the final remarks by the student, parent and community representatives on the panel. Especially Jitu Brown from the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. I guess they helped to contextualize this document, its great, but now what?

Jitu said something very important last night, he made it clear that what we will find in this document is nothing new. This is not to invalidate the work or the panel, if anything it was to light a fire under our ass and push everyone to action. There is a lot of value to the document and to the collective voice of CReATE and all of their individual members. Its just that this information is not new. I love hearing Jitu Brown speak, I always feel re-inspired, we need more action, we need more organizers. We have to stop putting it off or relying on someone else to take action for us, if we do, its never going to happen.

mayoral candidates on the arts

Following up on my previous post, I found that that Chicago Tribune interviewed the mayoral candidates on their position about the arts.

The link to each page are listed bellow:

Miguel del Valle
Carol Moseley Braun
Rahm Emanuel
Gery Chico

arts agenda

i just read the article Devan posted for discussion for next week's class:

Next mayor needs arts agenda by Laura Washington 

while i agree that the mayoral candidates should be discussing their plans to continue to support and enhance the arts in chicago, i took issue with the way the article was written. maybe i'm not giving this article a fair chance because i was immediately put off from the beginning, maybe i'm not looking at the overall message, and maybe i'm just not following her train of thought. but i'm not digging laura washington right now.

i think what i found so off putting was the language of "blue collar colloquialism," "high-culture" and other ways of making class distinctions. it appears that for laura this so called chicago arts renaissance is based in opera, ballet, symphony and theater, all "high" art, "high-culture." she is placing value on a very specific type of work and a very specific population of artists and art appreciators.

to be fair, she makes the case that the arts are an important part of life and culture in a city, and she made a plug for free events, which i appreciate. but, that's about it.
 and while she did check herself by including the part about Ronnee Hartfield reminding her that high-culture" institutions take a paternalistic approach when attempting to make connections to neighborhoods, this article still falls short.

if we want to really push the mayoral candidates to make the arts a key part of their campaign agenda, we have to make a more convincing argument.

rocket science

"Teaching is not rocket science. It is, in fact, far more complex and demanding work than rocket science." Richard Elmore

A mentor posted this quote today on facebook and I have to say that I agree. I am not a rocket scientist and don't presume to know anything about anything having to do with science stuff, but I can definitely say that teaching is and has been one of the most challenging things I have done. Challenging in the best way. 

I have had to teach two lessons the past two weeks at different schools for my Curriculum & Instruction class. I have been reflecting on my teaching experience, mostly because I have to turn in reflections, but teaching is hard stuff. Both experiences have been very different and its hard to really compare the two without going into full detail about the context and specifics of each school. But as challenging as both experiences have been, they have also been super informative and they have been opportunities for growth. At both schools I worked with small groups and found myself doing more than a handful of things all at the same time, while trying to facilitate a critical, meaningful and transformative experience for myself and the kids I was working with. 

So, I'm hungry and the pizza Susan pimped out is ready and I really want to eat and I've completely lost my train of thought. Point is, teaching is awesome and super complex and demanding but really rewarding and besides, Elmore is a professor at Harvard, and if a Harvard guy said it, it must be true.